


3rd Scent: Naoto's Shoebox

by Windryder1



Series: How to Train Your Animal Demon [3]
Category: Persona 4
Genre: Friendship, Other, Shrinking, Soul Bond, Yôkai, cat/human hybrid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-17
Updated: 2015-04-17
Packaged: 2018-03-23 08:53:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3762154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Windryder1/pseuds/Windryder1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The cat demon discovers a shoe box.  And claims it as 'hers.'<br/>She's introduced to the vacume cleaner, and her first nemesis...the cleaning lady.</p>
            </blockquote>





	3rd Scent: Naoto's Shoebox

3rd SCENT: NAOTO'S SHOEBOX

\----April 15th. Day 3 of Naoto living on this side of the TV world - nighttime...----

A soft, high pitched mew begged for Kaori Shirogane's attention. She glanced to her left where a small girl clutched a stuffed Toothless-the-Nightfury-dragon plushy to her chest. The little cat's twin navy blue feline ears dipped slightly when she mewed again.

"Naoto? What's wrong, honey?" Kaori set her slim pen onto the manila folder at her desk and swiveled her chair to face the newest member of the Shirogane household. She smoothed down the tiny cat demon's ears. "Can't sleep?"

Naoto shook her head from side to side and clutched her favorite stuffed toy to her chest. She muffled a soft sound into its tweed detective hat. Ever since Kaori had given her this plushy yesterday afternoon at the vet, she'd never let it leave her side. That Sherlock Holmes dragon helped her to feel safe, and was comforting in the wake of the nightmare that pulled her from sleep. The set of dark blue pajamas Kaori had found for her were still slightly too big—as they had come from another stuffed toy—, and bunched around her bare feet.

Kaori picked up the little cat demon and set her on the desk. "Did you have a nightmare?"

Naoto's ear tipped up. If she was talking about a dream that made her want to cry, then yes; She had a nightmare.

"I wish you could tell me about it." This small creature had proven herself to be an intelligent problem solver very quickly, and Kaori knew she had her own history. Still, the language the cat-demon spoke wasn't remotely close to her own even though Naoto could understand everything she said. For some reason, she wasn't able to mimic the sounds. Hopefully that would quickly change.

She flipped a page in the folder and set it aside.

Naoto tried to read the strange upsidedown characters on the page at her feet and asked what it was all about.

Kaori nudged the small cat girl back a little so she could mark down another note. She couldn't understand her, so she guessed by the tiny girl's tone. "It's one of the case files my husband is working on. He had to stay late, so I'm giving him a hand with some paperwork.

Naoto set down her plushy and pulled one of the pages over her head to see the one beneath it. Her nose scrunched up at the black and white aerial photo of a man in a trench coat walking away away from the camera position through a parking lot. She tugged the picture out from under the large paperclip with both hands and sat down to study it.

"That's our current suspect in a robbery at Daidara's. It's a small store. We don't know who he is, but detective Dojima has a few leads. Sadly, that's all we have to go on."

Naoto looked up at the kind woman, then back to the picture. Her tail flicked idly as she squinted at the details in the background with the scrutiny of a jeweler. Something caught her attention. She stood and tugged on Kaori's cuffed sleeve and held up the picture. There's a point on it she needed to see, and tried to tell her what it was, but Kaori only raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"We've been over this picture a million times." She blinked when the little cat ran over, pulled a magnifying glass out of a pencil holder, and carried it back across her shoulder. She took the offered tool and held it over the photo where Naoto patted the glossy paper. There was something incredibly minute to the man's right. Now curious, Kaori leaned over to get a closer look through the glass. Her lips parted slightly at what she saw.  
Naoto had found a reflection of the man's face in the window of the car next to him.

"I'll be..." She set the magnifying glass down and ruffled the cat girl's ears. "We never even caught that. This'll put us on the path of finding the thief. Good job, Naoto."

Naoto's tail swished in happiness.

That made two cases this little creature had helped to solve within two days. Kaori needed to teach her how to become Human, and how to interact. An idea struck her with warm genius. Her husband may not go for it, but she could convince him. "Would you like to come to the station with me tomorrow?

This kind giant was asking her if she'd like to return to the place where she'd received her name and new life? Where she'd had fun giving the other detectives something to chase? Her eyes dilated in joy. Of course she wanted to go back! This was her chance to prove she could live up to her name, and maybe use their resources to find her friends. She nodded vigorously with a mew of delight.

"Then you'd better get back to bed. You're going to have a busy day tomorrow."

Naoto grabbed her plushy just before Kaori picked her up, and nuzzled into the warmth of the woman who claimed her.

Kaori moved down the hall of the second floor to her own bedroom. The door was left open just in case the cat girl needed to leave. Although it was a sliding soji, she still wanted to give her new family member the security in knowing she was free to go anywhere she wished. This was now her home, too, after all. It was still a large house –a mansion, really. Kaori had originally set up Naoto's living space in the room next door, but woke up last night to find the cat demon curled up next to her. If this house was large for her, it must be tremendous for a creature standing 12 inches tall.  
She set the little cat girl on the cushy animal bed they'd purchased that morning. "Good night, Naoto. Sweet dreams."

Naoto watched her go, though didn't need to blink when the human turned off the light at the center of the ceiling. Her eyes adjusted instantly to the light difference. She laid down on her stomach with her head resting on her arms, and her feet tucked under a fold of fabric in the bed. Toothless, her trusty dragon companion, rested comfortably against her. She exhaled and watched the moonlight cast shifting shadows of the tree outside across the floor.

The moonlight shone on at the edge of a white piece of paper in the closet. Curious, Naoto sat up and stepped out of the bed. She walked across the rug to the tall closet and pushed the door open slightly. Her eyes widened, and she grinned. She'd found something truly amazing.

Naoto dragged the shoebox out to the middle of the floor and pull the top off. She walked around it, inspecting it closely. This was a well constructed, tough box not unlike the one she'd come through the weird portal in, only much smaller. This was perfectly, ingeniously, Naoto size.  
Unfortunately, it was already occupied by a pair of brand new soft pink pumps –a fact that could be easily remedied.

Naoto cracked her knuckles, pulled both shoes out, tossed them aside one by one. At first, she turned the shoebox over so she could scramble beneath it, and sat up with it on her head. She giggled. This was fun! But she had a better idea.

The little cat pushed it so it faced up again, and jumped into the box. The tissue paper crumpled at her impact. It made a glorious crinkling sound that set her tail flicking with delight. Entertained, she shuffled around inside the box, rustling the paper, balling it up, smoothing it out again, and settled down in a little ball to look over the top. It was absolutely perfect, and now this fantastic box belonged to her.  
She needed to make it official.

Naoto bounced out of the box, ran to the bed and climbed up using the claws of her hands and feet. She stepped over to the night stand and pulled open the drawer. Thankfully, the permanent marker she'd watched Kaori's husband, Takashi Shirogane, place in it that morning was still there. She grabbed it with both hands, ran back to the bed, dropped the marker, and climbed down. The cap popped off easily, though the ink-covered felt tip seriously reeked. She had already learned to recognize some letters and numbers where she'd come from before Inaba, and fought to recall the sound of her own name.

Holding the marker in both hands, she drew the symbols on the front of the shoebox, tongue in cheek, and stepped back to admire her work.

n A o T o

She recapped the marker and dropped it to the side. Its work was done. This box now belonged to her, one-hundred percent, without argument. No one could claim it, take it away, or ruin it. There was no mistaking that this was her territory.

She pushed the box over next to her bed, grabbed her favorite plushy, and hopped back inside. She curled up around the stuffed toy among the paper and relaxed, staring at the inside of the thick cardboard. It kept her from feeling so exposed to this enormous room, and the nightmare of the giant shadow that had tried to eat her and her friends. She thought of the fox-boy guarding her, and the dog-demon trying to fight using fire. The images were clear, though not as powerful now. Toothless and the shoebox would protect her.

She exhaled, settled in, and went to sleep.

****  
The earth-trembling vibration of a large monster jarred her out of sleep. It's loud roar continued without end, and it was getting closer. Naoto sat up, glanced around frantically, and ducked back down to see just barely over the edge of the shoebox as the door to the room slid open.  
A strange woman she'd never seen before stepped into the room with her hand resting on the head of the beast. The woman pushed it across the floor in quick steady strokes. The noise was deafening.

Naoto's eyes widened in terror and her ears folded back. Her tail fluffed out, as did her ears, and even her short hair stood on end. She felt the thin strip of fur along her spine heckle from the fear. That thing had better stay on the other side of the room. It had better stay way over there away from this shoebox. If it came any closer...

The cleaning lady hummed a song from a slim pair of white earbuds dangling from her ears as she pushed the vacuum cleaner around the bed.  
Oh god, it's coming this way! What the hell is that?! Get it away! Naoto hissed at it repeatedly, and swiped at it with her right hand, claws out. Her ears folded back. She bore her teeth, hoping to look more intimidating. She sank into her box. Nothing could get in here.

The cleaning lady stopped, watching the small cat-girl curiously. "A cat?" She plucked the earbud from her right ear. When did her employers get an animal? She looked more closely at the fluffed out tail, ears, wide eyes, and ...human face? "So small. Why do you look like a kid?"

"Tami?" Kaori walked in as the cleaning lady turned at the sound of her name. "Oh, I see you've met Naoto. She's the newest member of the Shirogane household."  
Tami looked back to the creature, who growled at her behind the barrier of Shoebox. "What is it?"

"We're not sure yet, but hopefully we'll find out soon." She moved forward to pick up the little cat demon.

Naoto snagged the arm of her plushy so the toy came with her.

"I think she's afraid of the vacuum cleaner."

Tami blinked in disbelief. The small cat girl couldn't be taller than a ruler. "Um, right..." she stuttered, not sure what to think. She'd never seen any creature or animal like that before in her life.

"I must ask you not to talk about her to anyone, please." Kaori tucked her hand under Naoto's feet for support.

Stunned, she simply nodded.

Kaori smiled. "Thank you. Please, continue."

Tami nodded again and watched them leave.

Naoto turned in the woman's arms to give the cleaning lady the 'dagger' glare. She held up two fingers to her eyes, then swept them back at the intruder. She would never put blind faith into anyone who commanded a monster that ate everything it rolled over. From this point on, she would be watching this woman like a hawk.

Lesson learned: Never trust the cleaning lady.


End file.
